Ambulance chaser is a term used by many to describe personal injury and medical or clinical
negligence solicitors. I have always felt the need to defend myself to these individuals who
simply don’t understand what is involved with clinical negligence claims. From their point of
view, the medical professionals have done everything in their power to treat the patient and
sometimes mistakes are made. I do not dispute this, but does that make it right? What about the
medical professions who should have done everything to treat the patient but didn’t? Those who
overlooked an x-ray causing the patient months of pain and discomfort only to be told at a later
stage, because of the delay in diagnosing his break, he will never walk properly again and will
more than likely suffer arthritis at a young age.
In truth, clinical negligence claims involve extremely thorough investigations, taking a number
of months to get pass the first stages before we begin to see the merits in any potential claim.
There are two main parts of the claim. Firstly that there was breach of the duty of care expected
to the patient, and secondly that it had in fact caused an injury to the client. As simple as this
sounds, it is far from it.
I am a case screen administrator, the first port of call for any new client who believes they have
suffered due to negligence. I speak to an average of 15 new clients a week, followed by months
of investigative work. One of the complaints I hear most often is simple lack of communication.
Countless times I have spoken to individuals who have told me they just don’t know what has
happened and no-one will tell them or that they simply don’t understand.
I assist these individuals with letters to the NHS trust, or indeed their private hospitals or clinics
requesting explanations of their treatment, whilst still holding the client under no obligation to
continue with the claim on receipt of the response. Once the client receives their full response, if
they are still not happy, we can write to an independent expert for their professional opinion of
the treatment the patient received, therefore providing further explanations to the patient again
holding them under no obligation to litigate.
If it then transpires that negligence has potentially occurred which has caused the patient
extended pain and suffering, further operations they wouldn’t normally have needed or further
injury, then and only then will we open a file and sign up our client. This is the stage where we
obtain all the medical records and obtain full reports and complete the final investigations. If for
the reasons above we are not in a position to take the case on, well, at least they have a better
understanding of why they are in the situation they are in.
Clinical negligence is a specialist area of law, with highly trained solicitors to assist the patients
every step of the way in receiving the answers they deserve and, depending on the outcome of
the investigations, the compensation they are due.
